The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)Fontenoy, marquise de
History
The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)
Fontenoy, marquise de
Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, 1830-1916; William II, German Emperor, 1859-1941
The wild boars number in the "Game Book" over 2,700. There are eleven
elks shot in Sweden, three reindeer killed in Norway, and ten bears
laid low, some of them in Russia, and others in Hungary. The emperor
has, much to his vexation, only managed to bag three unfortunate
snipe, an extremely difficult bird to shoot on the wing; but his
record of 120 chamois is decidedly good, when it is remembered what
an exceedingly difficult game this is to reach, entailing, as it does,
mountaineering of the most arduous and perilous character, especially
in the case of a man who can use but one arm easily. These 120 chamois
serve in a measure to atone for the twenty foxes which figure as
having been shot by the emperor, a fact which is more likely to injure
his reputation and prestige in the eyes of hunting men than any other
fault or even crime of which he could possibly render himself
guilty. The most unique item of this "Game Book," with the exception,
naturally, of the two aurochsen, are assuredly the three whales which
the emperor shot with a harpoon gun, on the occasion of his yachting
trip to the furthermost portion of Norway a few summers ago. These
three huge monsters of the deep form a fitting and amusing counterpart
in the "Game Book" to the three snipe above mentioned.
Emperor William has a number of shooting-lodges, among the best known
of which is Hubertusstock, of which he is particularly fond owing to
its proximity to the capital. Yet it is hated by the members of his
suite, for it is a terribly gloomy place. It stands in the midst of
a dense, dark forest of vast extent, and swarming with game, within
a few hundred yards of the reed covered and marshy shores of the
Werbellin Lake, and was built by the late King Frederick-William IV.
During the last few years of his madness this monarch was frequently
taken out to Hubertusstock by his attendants, who hoped that the
entire absence of all excitement and the intense solitude of the place
would diminish the recurrences of his attacks of violence.
The emperor sometimes spends an entire week at Hubertusstock and it
has frequently been asserted that he takes advantage of the complete
absence from public observation which he then enjoys, to make secret
trips abroad. It was his absence at this place for a period of ten
days while the czar was at Paris that led to the very circumstantial
story in the German and foreign press about his having been in the
French capital, in the strictest incognito, for several days during
the Russian emperor's stay on the banks of the Seine. A number of
people claim to have recognized him, and it is even alleged that he
caught the czar's eye, and was recognized by him during the grand
entertainment given by President Faure in honor of his Muscovite
visitors at the Palace of Versailles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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